asakusa.sensoji.浅.草.寺

we have a very strange weather lately, it feels like we are living in the tropics these days with extremely dark cloud,thunder storm with outpouring rain, and lightening. i just finished watching a japanese series called "ando natsu" (あんどーなつ) which is filmed in asakusa and with the story line on wagashi (和菓子).  i think i am going to start making a monthly wagashi starting september. it has a symbolic meaning to the seasons like the summer ones that i tried in kyoto, assorted wagashi in various sweets form, namagashi mostly made of white bean or red bean and expression of seasonal flowers.  and now i hope i didn't complaint about the heat of tokyo back in june. i kinda missing it now...
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you never bother to come here during your entire stay in tokyo, this place is just too touristic for you. you came by once months ago to the kappabashi dori to check out the plastic food and the ceramic. yet on your last full day in tokyo, you decided to come here. after all it's just 10 min walk from your hostel.  the weather became extremely hot. you were here at around 10 am and it's HOT!

 as you approach the kinarimon, memory flashed back to 2009, your first visit to tokyo in july.

you were and is still thrilled when you see the big lantern of kinarimon.

 this place is still exactly the same, always busy and still selling the same things - the famous rice cracker - senbei (煎餅), dango, ningyoyaki (人形焼) and souvenirs.

at the end of the walk, you come to a quiet place where you  see this pagoda... and a temple which you never set your foot on...

and the giant straw made slipper hanging on the door which you wonder what the symbolic meaning it brings...

something definitely new is the tokyo sky tree that didn't exist years ago...

asakusa is the place where new and old tokyo mingle together, a place most visited by tourists and locals alike...
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happy friday! i have been busy whole afternoon in the kitchen as i have a few church friends coming over for lunch...